“As a mom, I can’t imagine being in that situation,' Collette said.
As Laura and her Andy catch up with another mother-daughter duo, a young man enters the restaurant wielding a handgun. Before restaurant-goers — or audience members — can process what's happening, he shoots and kills Laura and Andy's acquaintances. Then, he proceeds to hold the remaining diners hostage.
The sequence also changes Andy and Laura's lives in unexpected ways. Andy, who is a 911 hotline operator, is still in in her police uniform. The man approaches Andy with the intention to die by police intervention. After discovering Andy isn't armed, he turns his ire on yet another mother and daughter pair.
Spoiler: Laura does save her daughter, though she sheds blood to do so. Executive producer Minkie Spiro said she could have made the scene even more gruesome, but instead decided to focus on the dynamic between Laura and Andy, since that would propel the rest of the show. Then comes the moment that changes Laura's life. With the knife literally sticking through her palm, she has the wherewithal to use the blade and cut the man's throat. In doing so, Laura saves everyone in the room.
As the man stands over Laura and Andy, Laura puts her hand over her daughters eyes to shield her."I felt that I would do that, having my own kids. I wouldn't want them to have those images to remember," Collette said.